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6 Ways MIT’s Media Lab Envisions the Opera of the Future

The MIT Media Lab is broken down into 26 different research groups. From “Viral Spaces” to “Lifelong Kindergarten,” each team is focused on understanding the impact emerging technologies have on everyday life.

Throughout the course of the past year, one group, “Opera of the Future,” also known as “Hyperinstruments,” has been examining how musical composition, performance and instrumentation can lead to new forms of expression, learning and health. From CogNotes’ cognitive learning platform to the building blocks that make up SoundStrand, here’s a look at six of the projects aimed at changing the way we connect to music.

Dance Remixer – The goal is simple: “Dance to whatever you want.” The Dance Remixer is a program that takes any piece of music, from country to Norah Jones’ “Don’t Know Why,” and turns it into something people can dance to. Hoping to personalize the way people interact with music, the Dance Remixer gives users the ability to modify songs’ function and emotional content. Here’s “Don’t Know Why” mixed with some latin flavor.

CogNotes — CogNotes can be summed up as “Alzheimer’s Disease assessment embedded in the creative act of music composition.” Together, with partners the Lincoln Park Performing Arts School and the Yamaha Corporation, a group of seniors are going through a multi-month composition workshop that’s outfitted with cognitive measures that are sensitive to the earliest transition to Alzheimer’s Disease.

Drum Top — Drum Top’s goal is to transform everyday objects into percussive musical instruments, “encouraging people to to rediscover their surroundings through musical interactions with the objects around them.” To see Drum Top in action, watch the video below.

Remote Theatrical Immersion: Extending “Sleep No More” — In London-based theater group Punchdrunk’s NYC show, “Sleep No More,” asked audience members to explore and interact with the environment and create their own narrative pathways. Working in collaboration with Punchdrunk, the Media Lab is developing an online world that complements the real-life experience, by allowing online participants to partner with live audience members, so they can explore the show together.

Personal Opera — Personal Opera gives everyone the opportunity to create musical masterpieces. The team’s currently working on developing an environment to allow for the incorporation of personal stories, images and “both original and well-loved music and sounds.” To see some of the technology in action, check out this video of Tod Machover’s new opera Death and the Powers, which had its U.S. premiere in Boston and Chicago last spring. Machover is the head of the Media Lab’s Opera of the Future.

SoundStrand — This music composition toy is comprised of a set of building blocks, each containing a musical motif. The blocks can be connected to create a musical theme, or manipulated with three degrees of freedom. See the blocks in use below.

Photo Courtesy of Personal Opera

from BostInno http://bostinno.com/2012/05/13/6-ways-mits-media-lab-envisions-the-opera-of-t...